Everyone knows coaching is one of the most influential professions in today's sports marketplace. However, I think the increase in influence and the role of the coach change drastically between college and professional sports.
College basketball coaches are responsible not only for winning games, but also for nurturing their players into successful adults and possible NBA basketball players. Combine that with managing the fragile psyche of college kids and their penchant for teenage behavior, and you can see why their shelf life is so short.
I want to pay homage to those men in today's game who have been able to balance all of the aspects of coaching, and remain consistent winners. There will be a few criteria however.
1. When I say college coaches "today", I really mean here and now. I know Coach K has had an incredible career, and is deservedly one of the best coaches in all of college basketball. But that is not news to anyone, so I will only be analyzing coaches track records over the past five years.
2. The basis of my rankings will be a combination of winning, recruiting, and developing the players. For example, John Beilein does not always recruit top talent, yet his teams, with the exception of this past Michigan team, have always overachieved.
Here goes:
5. John Calipari-Memphis
Coach "Cal" has been a household name in college basketball for a long time now, but it appears as though his coaching prowess has just begun to peak.
Since the 2003-2004 season, Coach Calipari has a record of 148-34 (.813) and has followed an ugly NIT season in 2004-2005, with back-to-back trips to the Elite Eight, and of course, this past year's run to the national championship game.
On March 8th, following a big victory over UAB Calipari became the second coach in all of college basketball (joining Adolph Rupp) to record 30 wins in three consecutive seasons.
The nay-sayers of Calipari argue that he plays in a conference with far fewer good teams. That his record in these recent years with Memphis has been inflated by the quality of the opponents he has faced, or lack thereof.
There is certainly merit to this argument, but in recent years, Memphis and Calipari have shown a commitment to facing a grueling non-conference schedule, and still win those games easily.
Not only that, but no one should blame Calipari for being able to recruit top-tier talent to a less prominent conference with less TV exposure. Instead, he should be lauded for his ability to convince players like Tyreke Evans to spurn hometown Villanova for far away Memphis.
But what really seperates Calipari from the coaches who were left off this list is his testicular fortitude, and his ability to constantly motivate and push his team to greater success.
When I say testicular fortitude I mean that Calipari is one of the only coaches who is not afraid to shake things up, even after the past has resulted in great success.
Calipari's implementation of the dribble-drive motion offense this year was gutsy. His team was returning almost everyone from the previous season, and it was adding the best freshman in the country. The Tigers were in everybody's preseason Final Four.
That didn't matter. Cal continued to tweak his offense to best fit the personnel he used, and it became a revelation. Promoting the idea of breaking the defender down individually and cutting and finding open shots off of the penetration. Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts were perfect for this offense, and excelled in it.
Only Cal would have the guts to pull off that kind of move.
4. John Thompson III-Georgetown
If only Georgetown could have just skipped the Craig Esherick era and gone from one Thompson to another, we would be talking about the Hoyas as a dynasty based on the results JT3 has had since he took over the program in 2004.
After leaving a Princeton program where he was fresh off his 3rd Ivy League title, Thompson inherited a Georgetown team that was in shambles, and quickly rebuilt them into a national power, by implementing a new offense, and showing a new commitment to keeping local recruits at home.
His record with Georgetown is 100-36 (.735) and even more impressive is that in just three seasons, Thompson took Georgetown from the NIT to the Big East Champion with a mix of Esherick's recruits, and his own.
Now, the most impressive part about his resume is that he has won back-to-back regular season titles in the Big East, a conference that many pundits strongly believe to be the best in the country year in and year out.
His ability to nurture Esherick's recruits and develop his own only proves that he can not only recruit but also teach. Players like Johnathan Wallace and Roy Hibbert were inconsistent until they worked out a niche in Thompson's offense, where they excelled.
It took Bill Self and Roy Williams years before they reached their first final four, and if it wasn't for the incredible shooting machine Stephen Curry, Thompson might have back to back final fours on his resume.
Now he has proved he can recruit out of state. Thompson swooped into SEC country and plucked Greg Monroe out of Louisiana, one of the top big men prospects in the entire nation.
Throw Monroe in with Henry Sims, another top ranked big man, and Jason Clark, a highly regarded shooting guard and both nearby products and the Hoyas have themselves another strong class to add to last year's guard-heavy class which included Austin Freeman and Chris Wright.
Don't expect Georgetown to give up their stranglehold on the Big East so easily next season, and Thompson is a main reason why.
3. Roy Williams-North Carolina
Not only has Williams added the elusive national championship to his resume, but he continues to use the prestige of North Carolina, and has used his country charm to consistently pull in a ridiculous amount of talent as the Tar Heels reload instead of rebuild.
He just finished his 5th season at his alma mater after leaving Kansas fans with a bad taste in their mouths, and has been fantastic in his seasons at Chapel Hill already.
Williams has compiled a record of 142-33 (.811) at North Carolina and has been to the NCAA tournament every season since being hired, including a National Championship in 2005, the Elite Eight in 2007, and a Final Four appearance this past season.
One of the major reasons Williams has had such success is that he has been able to use the North Carolina name to bring a silly amount of talent into the program. According to Rivals.com, since his first class in 2004 he has brought in seven five-star prospects, seven four-star prospects, and three three-star prospects, not including J.R. Smith who jumped straight to the NBA, and his class of 2009, which already boasts two five-star's and two four-stars.
Considering he is always working with teams with extremely high expectations, he needs to make sure he is an excellent motivator, and he has shown some of his strategies to combating complacency. Such as taking out all five starters right away, yelling at his players right on the sideline, and nit-picking after games about ways to improve.
Also include that his secondary break at every stop is legendary, and if he gets Wayne Ellington and/or Tywon Lawson back his team will be the pre-season #1 team for the 2nd year in a row shows Williams must be doing something right.
2. Billy Donovan-Florida
Gator fans all over the country just spit out the water they were drinking. How can a coach who is still fresh off back-to-back national titles not be the #1 coach in basketball today?
Well, Gator fans if it means anything to you, it was an extremely difficult and heart-wrenching decision, but in the end, Donovan was done in by the fact he has had incredible talent to work with since joining Florida, and the fact that all of his players didn't jump to the NBA certainly helped him grab his 2nd NCAA title.
His record in the past five seasons in Gainesville is a more than respectable 136-31 (.814), and of course he has the two national titles, but in his other three seasons he has 0 trips to the Sweet 16, and has only made it out of the 1st round once, including a trip to the NIT this past season which doomed him.
I understand that his players staying might have had something to do with their coach, but this is the same guy who almost jumped ship to the Orlando Magic the following season, so I am not sure if loyalty was why Noah and Horford and Brewer all stayed.
He is a fantastic coach. He is a tireless recruiter who is supplementing last year's top 10 class with another top 15 class this season, and he is incredibly good at making in-game and halftime adjustments to give his team a better chance to win.
Don't get me wrong, if I was an athletic director in D-1 athletics I would take Billy Donovan as my head basketball coach any day of the year. But he fell just short in my rankings.
Another plus for Donovan is that he is still very young, and so he will be able to rebuild Florida again in no time, although the early-enrollment attrition from this past season could dull the shine of the incoming recruiting class.
1. Ben Howland-UCLA
There are so many different reasons I could choose as my top reason why Howland is the best coach in college basketball today.
But, the number one reason Howland is the best coach is how he has revitalized the once stagnant UCLA program in such a short period of time.
The Steve Lavin years in Westwood were a disaster. Lavin was incredulously unable to convince high caliber high school players to play for the Bruins, and he suffered some embarrassing losses that were unheard of for a program with so much history, and in 2002-2003, Lavin and the Bruins finished 10-19 for the first losing season for UCLA in 54 years.
Enter Ben Howland.
Left with a dearth of talent thanks to the incredible ability of Lavin to NOT get good players to play for one of the nation's most respected college basketball programs. Howland struggled his first year, finishing 11-17.
But in his first year recruiting, his class consisted of Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Lorenzo Mata, and Josh Shipp, all of whom were key contributors to the Bruins success over the past few years.
Since then the recruiting has not been as heralded, but Howland has turned less talented players in downright superstars. Russell Westbrook was just a three-star recruit, and now he is most likely a lottery pick.
Howland's record with UCLA now stands at 126-45 (.736). But the most impressive piece of the his resume is UCLA's three consecutive trips to the Final Four, something that has been been replicated only rarely.
The one knock on Howland of course is that he has never won a National Championship. and has only been to the championship game once in those three years.
It pains Howland I am sure, but he should be proud that very, very few coaches have achieved the sustained success that Howland has achieved over the past three years.
Whats truly scary is that although the Bruins are losing Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook Howland has signed the #1 recruiting class for 2008 according to Rivals.com, and so they aren't very far off from returning to the top of the heap, if at all.
Howland's trademark is tough, in your face, man-to-man defense, which seemingly all of his teams have embodied, and what has made Russell Westbrook such a hot commodity.
He preaches the fundamentals, his players buy into the scheme, and he has had success...that's why he's the best.
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4 months ago
BEN HOWLAND DIDNT TURN RUSSELL WESTBROOK INTO ANYTHING. ACTUALLY RUSSELL WESTBROOK TURNED HIMSELF INTO A STAR IN SPITE OF BEN HOWLAND!
from 4 months ago
Yeah, Ben Howland had nothing to do with Russell Westbrook's development. michael = a dope
4 months ago
Cal is the man. His SOS is top 10 so I'm not buy the weak schedule argument. The Memphis Tigers are among the elite programs in college basketball. 38-2 says it all.
4 months ago
Cal need World Wide Wes to get players for his team. Nuff said.
4 months ago
I don't think many Gator fans would be upset not seeing Billy as the No. 1 coach in the country. In fact, I was more shocked that he was on this list at all (and I am a huge Gator fan). Most people outside of the state don't seem to pay Florida basketball a whole lot of respect. Though its odd to think that Billy would be second to Ben Howland, the man he sent home in the Final Four two years in a row.
Another thing to keep in mind is that recruiting is a large part of coaching. To say that Billy has had some great talent at Florida is attributable to him and only him. Florida is not North Carolina or Kentucky. He couldn't sell a kid on attending UF by having him look up into the rafters at all of the retired jerseys and tell that player that he could be next. He couldn't sell tradition. Instead he had to sell the future and get kids to believe that they could play major college basketball at a school that had basically never done before, all while in the shadow of the football program.
All in all, good list. Though I would drop JT3 in favor of Bill Self.
from 4 months ago
This is a good point about Billy Donovan, he should get credit for those players being on the team and having the type of season that they had.
What I am not sure he deserves credit for is Noah and Horford and Brewer all staying in school and basically letting Donovan fall asleep during the game and wake up to watch his team demolish the competition.
Finally, while I agree the University of Florida does not have a rich basketball tradition, it's not particularly difficult to sell a school that is in Florida, and whose athletic department has a ridiculous budget and tremendous facilities.
He is a fantastic recruiter, but his job isn't as difficult as you made it sound.
....In regards to Self over JT3, I originally had Self on the list, but I left him off because a lot of sportswriters and knowledgeable basketball fans are in agreeance that Self can recruit, but he can't coach.
Also JT3 took a program that had basically hit rock bottom, and rebuilt it in an incredibly short amount of time. Self wasn't hired to rebuild, he was hired to build upon the success that Roy Williams had in Lawrence.
JT3 has just done a better job
from 4 months ago
i must say that with what Bill Self did this year he deserves to be on this list. First of all, he can coach... seriously... a 9 man rotation... players dont do that by themselves. Secondly, he is known for great defense, and looking at KU's record stats this year i would have to say he was responsible for the low opponents scoring % and the steals... its all about position when you use team defense. He was the one that told the kids where to stand, when to switch, etc... that is defensive coaching...
Both of those are two things Roy never had anything to do with. all of roys recruits are gone. bill got himself the bigs and smalls that he needed to win, who believed in his coaching style... look at his track record from oral roberts to KU...
4 months ago
"Finally, while I agree the University of Florida does not have a rich basketball tradition, it's not particularly difficult to sell a school that is in Florida, and whose athletic department has a ridiculous budget and tremendous facilities."
Umm...have you heard of Florida State?
What Billy Donovan did at Florida was unheard of. He is the sole reason they have those amazing facilities. And falling asleep during games? That's just unfair. If anything, that team had a target on their backs, and everyone took their best shot at them.
As far as JT3, what exactly has he done to do a "better job" than Self, and isn't part of college coaching good recruiting, as Eric pointed out?
from 4 months ago
"What Billy Donovan did at Florida was unheard of. He is the sole reason they have those amazing facilities."
Thats a real broad remark, and I am not sure if you did your research on this one. Just two years before the Gators hired Billy Donovan they made the FINAL FOUR!!!
You are speaking about Donovan as if he resurrected a program that was really bad, but Lon Kruger, who was the coach of that Final Four team is a great coach in his own right and had done an admirable job before Donovan was anywhere near Florida.
"As far as JT3, what exactly has he done to do a "better job" than Self, and isn't part of college coaching good recruiting"
Yes, of course good recruiting is part of good coaching. But not only does Kansas play in a much easier conference than JT3 does, but wasn't it just one year ago that we were all talking about Bill Self as the guy who coaches the team who always gets beat early in the tournament?
The year before JT3 took over the Hoyas were 13-15 with a pretty much bare cupboard.
The year before Self took over for Roy Williams the Jayhawks were National Runner Up's, there certainly was a lot for Self to work with. Frankly, even with their national championship this year, I still think Bill Self is a bad basketball coach.
from 4 months ago
Lon Kruger was 104-80, and 51-47 in conference, in his 6 seasons at FL. Yes, dynasty building material indeed. After the Final Four appearance, the Gators went 17-13, and then 12-16, missing even the NIT.
George Mason made the Final Four two years ago, Michael. Are they a dynasty?
from 4 months ago
104-80 is not incredbily good, but once again, you speak about Donovan as if he came into a horrible situation and through sheer pluckiness and hard work made them into a formidable opponent.
Donovan is a great coach, and by all means deserves a Lion's share of the credit for Florida's success. But he didn't walk into a bleak situation and immediately start winning. He came into a program that had success and was on its way to establishing a basketball identity.
Also I never used the word Dynasty at all, that is your word entirely. Counting the two national championships, and one runners-up trophy in the late 90s, Florida has never made it past the 2nd round in all of Donovan's years.....is that Dynasty material?
from 4 months ago
Sorry, but you can't just overlook those 2 national championships because you think he lucked out with getting good players.
Of the five coaches on this list, there are a total of 3 NCs. Donovan owns two of them, despite being much younger than three of the others, and one year older than JT3.
So, yes, I would call that dynasty material.
Just out of curiosity, if Florida was "a program that had success and was on its way to establishing a basketball identity," then why did Lon Kruger walk away?
from 4 months ago
Michael,
With all due respect, you are close on your assessment of Donovan's body of work, but there are some things that you are wrong about. And honestly, there's no shame in being wrong about these things because Florida was simply not a national player when Donovan got there, and an outside fan has no reason to know these things.
I hate to admit this on a site like this, but I'm a Gator and have been attending football and basketball games in Gainesville for over 20 years. I enrolled at UF in 1996, the same year Donovan was hired as the head coach. He inherited nothing. Lon Kruger's '94 team was as much of a fluke as a final four team can be, and that is coming from one of the biggest Gator fans out there. The team's best player was Andrew DeClerq!
When Billy came two years later, the games were free for students to attend, we could sit wherever we wanted, and we sucked. Two losing seasons to begin his tenure following Kruger's losing season in '95. The practice facility was inside of the stadium itself. One full court. That was it. Basketball had a tough time making the front page in the Gainesville Sun.
Billy's biggest early achievements were landing three players: Jason Williams (who transferred with Donovan from Marshall), Teddy Dupay, and Mike Miller. Though Williams never played with Dupay or Miller, those three players put their respective squads in a position to compete with the big boys on any given night. Williams singlehandedly beat Kentucky at Rupp. Dupay and Miller were the cornerstones of the early teams that put Florida on the map.
From there, Donovan began his streak of 9 straight tourney appearances. He reached the Sweet Sixteen and Finals in consecutive seasons (99 and 2000). And late in 2001, the $10M practice facility was completed thanks to Donovan's impact on the team and pressure on the Athletic Department to spend the money.
Not only is Billy Donovan the single reason that basketball matters at the University of Florida, but he's also the only reason it matters in the entire state.
from 4 months ago
I am not going to argue with Eric because he clearly had first hand experience that I was not able to obtain considering I was 9 years old when they hired Donovan.
But I think you and Tim both have misconstrued what I was saying. If you read it again, I clearly have a great deal of respect for Billy Donovan, and there is no doubt in my mind that he doesn't deserve credit for both national championships because he does, he deserves a lot of credit.
I am also sure that Donovan is greatly responsible for the rise of the University of Florida through the basketball ranks. But it's not hard to recruit to a school like Florida. The school practically sells itself.
Also the major names weren't knocking down the door for Dupay and Williams, both of whom had experienced some legal trouble and had character flaws that other teams shied away from. Yes! Donovan does deserve credit for giving these guys a second chance, but Dupay was in and out of trouble at Florida his whole career, and Williams didn't stay very long.
Mike Miller on the other hand, was a dynamite recruit for Donovan.
from 4 months ago
Two things put Donovan over Howland for me:
1. Florida is a football school 100%, and it's not even close. To build the program he has at a place that had no basketball fervor when he got there is more impressive than reviving a traditional power basketball program like UCLA.
Howland could show off all the trophies, the banners, and film of all-time greats playing there. Donovan could show off the '94 Final Four team (which was a complete surprise and a fluke more than anything) and an arena that had an inflatable roof. The Florida basketball facilities back then were old and out of date. UF's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance was 1987. No contest there.
2. Head-to-head, Donovan is 2-0 against Howland. They played each other on the biggest stage two years in a row, and both times Florida won easily. It's true that UCLA didn't match up well against those Florida teams, but the second time around there was no discernible difference than what happened the first time other than a misleadingly closer final score.
4 months ago
Ok, it is retarted to say coach K isn't top 5, records aren't everything, it depends on what team you have, and who you are against at that time, to say he isn't there is stupidity. I also agree with the people up top with the Westbrook and Howland thing.
from 4 months ago
RETARTED TJ? Now that's rich!
from 4 months ago
If we were doing career achievements, Coach K would be a top 5 coach for sure, but I said at the beginning I was talking about "today" as in the last 5 years, and Duke hasn't done diddly in those years.
Also how can you possibly not give Howland any credit for making Westbrook what he is? You think Westbrook said "F*&K Ben Howland, I am going to get better just to spite him"? Of course not
from 4 months ago
1) "If we were doing career achievements, Coach K would be a top 5 coach for sure, but I said at the beginning I was talking about "today" as in the last 5 years, and Duke hasn't done diddly in those years."
Using your limited criteria, Duke has made a Final Four and two Sweet 16s in the past five years.
2) Calipari has been able to recruit via the lucrative Fed Ex program and Worldwide Wes. Always follow the money.
3) UConn will disrupt whatever "stranglehold" you perceive Thompson to have established in the Big East.
4) In leading the Bruins to five Sweet 16s in seven seasons, Lavin was, if nothing else, a world-class recruiter.
4 months ago
glad to see coach k isnt on here. his teams are always good, but they always come up short. well except the laettner incident, but well gloss over that.
i wanted to see gary williams, taking maryland from NCAA probation in 1993 to a championship less than 10 years later, but his teams since then havent delivered. then again, i go to maryland and am a bit biased.
4 months ago
I love the list and explanations except for JT3. I've been a die hard Big East basketball fan since SU won in 2003 and I've watched JT3 blow a lot of big games with bad in game management. Yes, he won with players from two different systems and got some guys to really produce in his system, but it comes to purely coaching in game, JT3 is lacking.
4 months ago
Ok well i guess i did go overboard with the retarded stuff, my bad, as you can obviously see I am a blue devil fan lol, everyone has there own opinions though
4 months ago
If Coach K is not news, then neither are any of these guys.
4 months ago
I agree that they are all great coaches but I thintk that Bo Ryan at UW gets more out of his players than any coach out there. Wisconsin is rarely in the top 20 in recruiting but they have been consistently in the top 20 each year.
from 4 months ago
thats a terrific point, once he has more success in the NCAA tournament, he could very well jump up that ladder. He is definitely in the Top 10 though
from 4 months ago
Agreed that Bo Ryan deserves to be on this list. In the 5 year time frame that this article looks at, I would put him no lower than 3rd.
from 4 months ago
While I think Chris makes an excellent point about Bo Ryan and his ability to maximize the ability of his players depite not bringing in a heavily lauded recruiting class.
Trey I just can't agree with you the Ryan should be above JT3, Calipari, and Roy Williams, all three of whom have been to the final four and Ryan has not.
Again, Ryan normally has far less to work with than these other coaches, but the counter-argument remains that not only is good recruiting part of good coaching, but the Big 10 is not a very strong conference when stacked against the Big East and the ACC, so a Big 10 title doesn't mean much when Georgetown has back to back Big East titles and same with North Carolina in the ACC.
Bo Ryan is a fantastic coach, but his resume needs a little more substance before he could crack this list.
4 months ago
How about Mark Few
I knowhe hasnt gone past the Sweet 16 but look at his win percantage all coming froma small school in Spokane Washington
4 months ago
I don't see how Calipari can be in the top five, he leads a good program in a conference of mid-majors. Memphis goes against UAB and houston as their toughest competition while they are also loaded with talent, players who were on the top of many people's lists in recruiting them, as compared to a coach developing under the radar players like bo ryan, jay wright and bruce pearl. I don't mean to defend Bo Ryan but he is 556-173 (.773%) consistently makes it in the top 10 in the NCAA rankings plays in one of the more competitive conferences in the NCAA with the big 10 much more than conference usa, and since he started coaching in 2001 he has never missed the NCAA tournament and has only had one loss in the first round out of the 7 consecutive years he's made it to the NCAA tournament.
That is much better than Calipari and Ryan has been coaching much longer than John Thompson Jr. whose only 166-76 (.686%) in a conference that is just a little bit more competitive. At that a good scout is much different than a good coach because your talking about different people doing different jobs, recognize the head coachs for what they do not what their scouts do, that would be like saying Boise State's football coach is hardly better than Oklahoma's in just the 2007 season when there's clearly some major obstacles in terms of financial resources and talent available to get to a bowl game. Especially coming from a team that has a history of winning and basketball tradition like Georgetown compared to a school that are the new kids on the block in being a top dog basketball program. The last time Wisconsin won a Big Ten Championship prior to Ryan's arrival was in 1947, right after WWII.
Ryan has also made Wisconsin basketball a celebration inside the Kohl Center as students now go nuts for a new basketball program, Wisconsin fans dominate Ryan's basketball program with a 101-6 record at home, and with Illinois, Michigan St., Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Purdue, domination comprises over half the conference. While the Big East I think has a small edge, but it's tough to say with powerhouse teams like Rutgers, Providence, DePaul, South Florida, St. John's, Seton Hall, Cincinnati and Notre Dame comprising 8 of the 16 teams in the Big East. While John Thompson Jr. is celebrating traditions Bo Ryan is making traditions.
4 months ago
Ben Howland!!! Why don't you think he deserves it?
4 months ago
Dude, where the heck is Bill Self? As a die hard Illini fan, I hate the man, but he can recruit and now has won a national title. I still think he sucks as a coach, but the national title contradicts me. How many does Ben Howland have? I also got give a shout out to Bruce Weber, you have to be an Illini fan to realize how awesome this guy is, but not ready to be listed as one of the top coaches until he brings us back to glory.
4 months ago
I forgot to mention T to the IZZO
4 months ago
Even though he doesn't have a championship three final four appearances! I don't care if you think he makes the best out of his players after all he did end up recruiting them. (and i think he makes the best of them) He turns a horrific team into a GREAT team with great people. Unlike most people he looks for heart, hustle and skill!
4 months ago
I think Bruce Pearl has to be considered... He was won everywhere (DII, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and now Tennessee) and rapidly revitalized a floundering program. Plus he has had the upper hand against both Calipari and Donovan.
4 months ago
I was waiting for a Bruce Pearl mention. Talk about completely overhauling a program. I love this guy and what he does for college basketball. Until he can advance in the tournament, though...
But the upper hand on Calipari and Donovan? That I disagree with completely.
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